shminux comments on Math is Subjunctively Objective - Less Wrong

14 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 25 July 2008 11:06AM

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Comment author: shminux 12 September 2012 06:32:54PM *  0 points [-]

Do you think the limit of the map as its error goes to zero exists? Do you think we will ever be able to determine whether or not the limit exists? What name would you give that limit if it existed?

The equivalent language I prefer is more lay-person: will science ever explain everything we observe and predict everything we may ever observe? And my answer is: there is no way to tell at this point, and the answer[ability] is not relevant to anything we do. After a moment of thought you can see that this might not even be the right question to ask: some day we might be powerful enough and smart enough to create new physical laws, so even defining such a limit will be meaningless.

Comment author: Pentashagon 12 September 2012 09:47:56PM 0 points [-]

Even if the Universe's fundamental nature can be changed without limit there would still be a current territory that hasn't changed yet. The future territory would be different, but if we knew how to create new laws we could also probably predict what the new territory would be like.

If the fundamental nature of the universe just changes over time on its own, then your argument is a lot stronger.